Conveyer systems for the automatic handling, manipulation and moving of packages and objects are commonplace in various settings. Of particular interest are conveyers comprising package alignment systems for controlling the alignment and orientation of objects carried thereon. Such systems are already known in the art but are generally substantially inflexible allowing only limited manoeuvrability of the conveyed objects.
For instance, prior art systems include conveyer carrousels comprised of independently rotating platforms, to which are fed objects from a main conveyer system for rotation. The objects in question are brought to the carrousel by a segment of the main conveyer, positioned on respective rotating platforms, and selectively flipped 180 degrees, to finally be recaptured by the main conveyer. These systems are generally expensive and voluminous requiring considerable modifications for each new product or object to be used therewith. Variable selective rotation is also not available with these systems.
Another prior art system for rotating and aligning objects on a conveyer utilises two lateral belts driven at speeds respectively slower and faster than the main conveyer. Consequently, objects passing between the two lateral belts will indiscriminately be rotated due to the speed differential thereof. Every object is rotated equally which means that objects entering this segment must be identically oriented if they are to exit having a substantially identical orientation.
Finally, other such systems consist of pressing objects to be rotated against a single moving lateral belt using a fixed lateral press. In this system, only one object may be processed at a time, forcing the objects on the main conveyer to be accelerated prior to entry into the rotation station to allow for adequate separation between the individual objects. High conveyer outputs combined with accelerated single-pass full rotations result in fast rotation speeds and often reduced or even insufficient rotation control.
The present invention, described herein and with reference to the appended illustrative drawings, provides a package alignment system for a conveyer that overcomes the above and other drawbacks of prior art systems.